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Overview
Pulley crunches are great for working the entire abs muscle group as well as the connecting muscles running along either side. Secondary stress is placed on your lat muscles. Unlike regular crunches, pulley crunches have the advantage of being able to easily add greater weight and resistance to the cable. This exercise can be done either with two hands or with one hand at a time.
Setup
To begin pulley crunches, connect a rope attachment to the end of a cable and adjust the pulley so that it is well over your head when kneeling down. Take the rope in your hand and lower yourself to a kneeling position so that you are holding the ropes just slightly higher than your head with the elbows bent. Begin with your body fully upright and the ropes in front of you.
Movement
Exhale as you pull with your stomach muscles to curl your upper body downward and toward the floor. As you move downward, pull your elbows in slightly so that your hands are pulled in close to the top and sides of your head. Hold for a couple seconds and squeeze your stomach muscles at the bottom of the movement. After a good moment, slowly allow your body to rise back upward while reversing the motion of the elbows until you return to the starting position. The rope should then be in front of you and your hands should be at the level of your head.
Tips From the Trainer
To shift the focus of this exercise to the sides of the abdominals, try alternating this exercise between the center movement and going from side to side. Also, you can focus on the sides by doing this exercise one arm at a time. You can do this by performing one set using each arm and a final set using both arms. Either of these methods will help to develop the long chiseled looking muscles that connect the sides of the abs to the rib cage.
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